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Sinha's urges Commonwealth biz leaders to make the most of reforms

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today urged investors from across the 54-nation Commonwealth to take advantage of an array of bold reforms aimed at freeing up the economy and boosting growth.

''India is open for business. India is looking for business,'' Sinha told the business leaders meeting ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting or CHOGM which opens in Durban, South Africa, tomorrow.

Sinha said the recent Indian elections, which gave the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition an increased majority, had produced a degree of political stability not seen for years, which should allow government to forge ahead with its policies.

"We are now in the process of launching a second generation of economic reforms,'' he said. ''We have introduced a number of progressive legislations which will completely change the economic landscape of our country.''

''Government will not shy away from taking bold decisions in order to take the country forward,'' he said.

The reforms include a planned opening of the state-run insurance sector to private domestic and foreign competition, the introduction of derivatives trading, a new law on foreign exchange regulations and a gradual programme of privatisation.

Sinha said India was making the state-owned ports run more like businesses as a precursor to their possible future sale, the state airlines were looking for strategic equity partners and the nation's airports could be offered for long-term lease.

The finance minister said he was also trying to encourage India's state government electricity boards to split up generation, transmission and distribution functions and then possibly sell them off to the private sector separately.

Meanwhile, Sinha said India was committed to reducing its fiscal deficit from a target of four per cent of gross domestic product for 1999/2000 down to two per cent within the next three to four years.

Sinha also said he wanted to implement deep tax reforms which could include the introduction of value added taxation and said he would be meeting with state governments on this issue on his return from south africa.

UNI

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